it's. the most amazing gun buying spree about her seen she weeks after the tragic school shooting in connecticut gun stores are flooded by customers as barack obama's threat to ban firearms proved to be their best. the international peace envoy to syria calls for a transitional government as the country succumbs to being a fertile ground for terrorists first artie's new troops recall how they covered the conflict in twenty twelve. and president putin signals he will sign the bill which includes a ban on americans adopting russian children while pledging to improve the lives of

all friends within the country. and i welcome you watching r.t. live from moscow with me and. my gun sales are surging to record levels across the u.s. president obama's pledge to tackle firearms ownership in the wake of the sandy hook school massacre has seen the shooting spree develop into a shopping spree for guns. you can spoke to some of the store owners who are cashing in. about two minutes ago actually on this particular wall here. wrote down four rows across. with everything going on politics right now with the possible everything everyone is. purchasing right away

gun stores all across the u.s. are reporting record sales just two weeks after the tragic shooting at the elementary school in newtown americans are scrambling to buy the same type of weapon that adam lanza used in the connecticut shooting plus high capacity magazines and a lot of them panic buying triggered out of fear that the white house is out to ban the weapons but this time the words need to lead to action we we actually i would say these are double or triple in sales is the best day we've ever had as a business know a ar fifteen for this customer all sold out at the store while prices on line have gone through the roof had been going for a thousand and fifteen hundred eight hundred dollars now to twenty five hundred three thousand dollars even in some cases it's just the most amazing gun buying spree i've ever seen many gun retailers now quite cynically refer to the

administration's ban talking as the obama girl signaling that's how good a spin for their business so how do you go from a president with a tough gun control agenda to someone gun dealers call the greatest gun salesman in america manufactures of semi-automatic rifles were poured that their market has grown thirty percent over the last four years states like north carolina iowa and you to have seen a one hundred percent increase in gun sales over the same period in the wake of the tragedy in newtown one of the country's biggest ammunition suppliers said they sold more than three years worth of magazines in just three days. although president obama himself has so far failed to act on his pledge to ban assault weapons his words have certainly provoked action just not the type you may have wanted for someone they say is against her. doing a great job for us. maybe they should be a third term in order to sell even more weapons many dealers hype up gone

apocalypse an aerial so the band they would be more the women over. to start not only you started. well but many of them don't actually see any drastic changes happening anytime soon. we're going to cut off. rifles or. high cap magazines. it's kind of almost impossible because. it's already circulating now. how are you going to get everybody to bring everything back after all and a significant gun control measures and up in the past ultimately clashed with the second amendment of the constitution and were subsequently scrapped. tilley virginia i'm going to check on me man america is braced to plunge off the fiscal cliff time ticks away as democrats and the republicans over taxes for the

rich while we hear the more worrying aspects of the deal have long been agreed. also ahead understands president uses foreign companies of corruption saying they've withheld millions in taxes but some experts believe he's just trying to save face before nato forces leave. president putin says he will sign a bill which includes a ban on u.s. citizens adopting russian children you also promised to back a motion to increase domestic adoption and improve conditions for orphans inside the country the restrictions came about after washington's travel and financial sanctions against russian officials it alleges are involved in human rights violations moscow insists the counter legislation is not aimed at orphans or potential adoptive parents but it america's lax treatment of transit and lack of access to the children we spoke to an american adoption expert who says that tracking russian children are being treated in the u.s.

is all but impossible. a lot of the cases have gotten very very light sentences for the caretakers whether foerster or adoptive of russian children here in the united states but we certainly have no idea how many children are enduring abuses surviving abuses of all kinds the children that died at the hands of their adoptive parents were tortured in some horrendous ways they were sexually abused they were burnt they were starved they were killed ever any conceivable kind of torture one human being could inflict on another was done to these children so these were the parents that were caught and prosecuted nineteen how many more there is there is absolutely no way of knowing the united states has no system of follow up on adoptions once an adoption is finalized the child is considered as if born

to that family. the u.n. arab league special envoy to syria is urging the country to create a transitional government to resolve the bloody civil war but he calls china with russia which again underlined that the international community should stick to a peaceful solution moscow also denied claims that it be secretly discussing a plan b. for syria with washington united peace comes amid fresh bloodshed after a car bomb killed at least four people and wounded around ten others outside damascus on thursday terrorism has become common in the war torn country artist reporters got as close as they could to bring you the real stories of the violence that's tearing the country apart and that's what we are focusing on today in our series on the events that shaped twenty twelve.

it became fairly apparent after a massive regional arab spring and in the wake of that the next context of a pro-democracy movement and a revolution or civil war was out of what was happening when you see some politicians there and the media just. cracking down on people you think but what about the other guy on top of the politics and diplomacy there are facts that are simply too important to ignore i remember i was a training session of the syrian football team and the coach was very angry with how his players were practice and he was shouting he was swearing from time to time and then i move my head like this just like this and i saw two helicopters flying at the very low altitude and firing were ito the hotel restaurant close to us there was a group for rich syrians playing cards laugh and smoke and living life as usual and

just before that me and my colleagues were living. the local t.v. station there was an almost lost a few blocks away most likely most likely people have been killed and what struck you was the coexistence of those two. real lives it's. a lot of the most interesting interaction for me with assad happened before and after the interview obviously and that's often the case. i asked him if he's afraid. he said no. he said no i'm not afraid. no one whether you believe the person or not and the only reason you know if he's right or wrong is intuitional i think series becoming the next iraq it's a country that is totally. wired and don't surprise the shelf anybody like in the case of for iraq all this harm was done to syria and the

substantial help of the outsiders on the guise of democratic and. now there's a claim of sinister moves beyond the death of iconic singer whitney houston online the investigator who said she was killed by massive drug debt the details are on our website also that the palestinians you an upgrade see them think about taking israel to the war crimes call. in dollars just isn't enough explains why soccer superstar a little messy won't believe in barcelona for russia any time soon.

the u.s. is teetering on the fiscal cliff with the president the senate and the house of representatives still no closer to a deal it is just days to go until taxes for americans across the board jump massively at the same time as spending plummets but activist and journalist says it's not the deadlock that ball this him but what has already been agreed the real problem in my eyes is not the fact that they can't reach an agreement but rather that they have reached an agreement on many fundamental things the grievance they have reached is that neither of them are going to advocate to put more money in the hands of working people they have no problem whatsoever removing a trillion dollars or two trillion dollars from the economy and delivering it to the bankers they did that inside of twenty days back in two thousand and eight and again in two thousand and nine was very little discussion. everyone agrees on both

sides of the aisle that sums sort of. reduction in benefits from social security and medicare is inevitable quote unquote well you know the rest of us don't believe that it's inevitable or even that is necessary and certainly not the best that it's not desirable yet the agreement between the democrats and republicans on these fundamental issues is in my mind more important than their disagreement to the posturing that they're doing for the media basically to try to blame each other for the you know going over the so-called cliff so that one of the world's economic recovery is held hostage by those talks in washington the public saving and europe's premie economy we report on what's getting jim and so upset with the government as it puts together a grander starting plan of its own that in a few minutes.

if you're from my generation or younger and you were born into the one percent that i have a lot of college debt i sure do you know the deal used to be that you paid a significant amount for education but in turn that gave you a much higher salary later but now the system works in reverse many young americans studied very hard to not make any money at all around nine percent of americans with student loans have defaulted and at least nine but maybe up to eighteen percent are ninety days late with their payments given the situation the people at u.c. berkeley were nice enough to give away a million dollars in scholarships for everyone everyone that's an illegal immigrant yeah that's right if you're born in america then pay till you die but jump the border and enjoy the red carpet education treatment the people who will be getting the scholarships are mostly the children of illegal immigrants who spent many of their formative years in america and yeah i can see the logic that could be hard

for them to get an education when there are when they aren't citizens but they came into the country illegally it isn't taxpayers jobs to help them but wait berkeley is a private institution so i guess they can give out the money to whoever they want whenever they want however they want but berkeley management if you're watching this i would really appreciate if you chose some financial mercy to american citizens it isn't like they don't need the help but that's just my opinion. deadly rivals some decades. good fifteen people killing each other

in any other country there would be. mediators. self-imposed outcasts from society i will myself am i going to tell my brother. i'm going to leave. the cause of my anger and frustration the way. they got upgraded. to. the most violent gangs in u.s. history. is just all model kill or be killed with the colors matching the national flag.

of this country uses violence when it reaches and it legitimizes the violence they are made in america on the. welcome back afghanistan says it has lost over seventy million dollars because nato link companies are not paying taxes president karzai uses foreign businesses of corruption for using their connections to avoid punishment but antiwar activist brian beck of police calls i is more concerned about his reputation the revenue. karzai is caught between a rock and a hard place he owes his very survival i mean in a literal sense to the occupying forces and yet at the same time he realizes that the afghan people deeply resent the foreign occupiers who have been there for more than a decade and so in order to have any credibility especially post two thousand and

fourteen the karzai government and his followers must show that at least some degree of nationalist credentials in other words some independence from the occupiers to whom they owe their survival so he's on the horns of a dilemma he cannot really escape i think this allegation against the foreign n.g.o.s for not paying their taxes which is probably true is his attempt to solve his own or save his own reputation for those who deeply resent the foreign occupation the fact of the matter is the occupation of afghanistan like almost all foreign occupation is riddled with corruption by the occupiers and by the elites whether we sippin of their assistance and does the karzai government really represent the afghan people does it represent working families does it represent the poor farmers i would say absolutely not there is no indication of that whatsoever to the extent that the karzai government is demanding from foreign forces or independent domestic forces any sort of revenue you can you can believe

you can gas for sure i would say that much of that money will be treated as loot something that will be the private premise for those who are in power the elite themselves. well let's take a quick look at some other headlines making news around the world former egyptian president hosni mubarak has been readmitted to hospital after his health took a turn for the worse the eighty four year old was ordered into care by the state prosecutor who led egypt three decades is serving life in prison for failing to protect protesters killed in the arab spring last year meanwhile the current president mohamed morsi has launched an investigation into opposition leaders he accuses of supporting efforts to depose him. a court in argentina has found a former economy minister guilty of corruption handing her a four year sentence release from a chair he was forced to quit in two thousand and seven when more than fifty

thousand dollars in various currency was discovered in her office bathroom she maintains she is innocent and says she will appeal the ruling. british scientists trying to cut through the antarctic permafrost have failed to tunnel down into an underground lake a technical problem with the drilling system meant they were able to pierce through the three kilometer thick ice they were trying to find evidence of ancient life in the water which has been untouched for half a million years. and this is one hundred sixty million dollars worth of seized drugs being incinerated in peru which the authorities have been destroying over the last couple of days the five tons going up in smoke is a combination of marijuana and cocaine the seizures were part of a record haul of more than forty tons in the past year alone. the international monetary fund raising the alarm over germany's reported or sterritt plans the measures are due to be rolled out after next year's elections and would

apparently raise the retirement age hike taxes cut welfare and bring europe to a grinding halt according to the i.m.f. and on top of that is peter oliver discovered it's unlikely to make dejected voters and happier. they're top of the european tree but don't think germans feel that they have nothing to grumble about a view a few on both in the park to share measuring public mood by telephone and face to face through thousands of interviews we've got a pretty good idea of what the people are thinking stats boffins have been gauging the country's mood to come up with the biggest moans of the year from your average german at number five it's national debt it's better to give than to receive at this time of year but germans festive spirit ran out long ago over chancellor merkel being a little too generous and bailing out countries like greece especially when it's their money at four is climate change the mayan world ending prophecy may have

turned out to be hocus pocus but germans remain seriously concerned about keeping mother earth ticking over for as long as possible number three is a very twenty first century problem getting ripped off online as we bank in shop on the web more than ever before the fear for germans is that someone else's netting their details on their cash. poverty came in second towards the end of the year it was revealed that around a quarter of europeans are at risk of living below the breadline germans watch with despair what's happening to the greeks in spanish images they struggle to shake from their minds but the biggest worry for germans in twenty twelve was rising prices cost so rocketing everywhere from food to fuel and next year looks set to get even more pricey germany is a world leader in using renewable energy and over the coming year it's the consumer

who will be paying to keep it that way with a shocking fifty percent increase in the subsidy paid towards renewable energy sources so that's what troubled germans this year but what are their fears for the future but i'm concerned maybe to find a good job because i want to do something different trying to thirteen minutes on sure what is happening in an economical crisis perhaps the euro is having another crisis but i actually love berlin that's why i want to stay here but if i can find a job here so will have to try to get somewhere else i worry about everything jobs crisis everything is going down the hill that people are concerned about job security that they just heard that yeah the contracts are not secure in our that firms companies no longer have enough money and that people are just get fired. as with most situations in life when you ask people what their concerns are or what

they want to see changed you do have to be prepared that their answers might not be exactly what you want to hear really one of the off the top around us was to legalize soft drugs i don't think legalizing soft rocks is one of the most immediate concerns we. should have split emissions in two thousand and thirteen so what will germans be concerned about at the end of twenty thirteen even though they've less to worry about than most europeans it's unlikely that worries over spending at home or on other countries will disappear within twelve months peter all of a r.t. berlin. now in a few minutes we will have technology update as the signs that were shaped to market.

the mighty volga that runs deep through the russian soul it has provided inspiration for songs and poems and is the country's main north south artery and decades ago schumann ingenuity connected it to the dawn river to the west the volga dong canal is an engineering marvel within a day a vessel can pass the canals thirteen locks ten million tons of shipping does so every year. another concrete giant is this finished fifty years ago it's the biggest hydroelectric plant in europe empowers the local city of volgograd and sends lots more electricity to moscow the hydroelectric plant behind me is a potent example of how much the volga can provide but harnessing the river like this isn't without its cost. fishermen have been watching fish stocks for years

they see the slow damage the downing of the river has done especially to russia's prized sturgeon the source of caviar plec and the president of the hydroelectric plant has done significant damage because it stocked fish swimming up river to their spawning grounds. within a year all these houses would have gone fallen into the river depending on how many of the hydroelectric plants turbines are on the water level can change suddenly and dramatically too suddenly for the banks to absorb. control of the river flow by the plant has made building on the bogus flood plain more attractive serious floods are less likely but the water that is put into the drains is taken away from the fish that need it now but last the voice of the voters of color jay might stop being heard. the first time in fifty years the rules will contain a point on maintaining biodiversity in the river will still have a chance to bring the volga back to life. meaning that the mighty volga is treated

with the respect it deserves. and. choose your language. we can't know if you. choose that the consensus can. change the opinions that invigorating. choose the stories that impact the life truth access to often.

hello and welcome to technology regardless of who you are and whether you live in moscow or anywhere else in the world we are right there one holiday which we're all hoping for good health to keep us in tip top. find the latest improvements in russian medical science. research health. good health. medical breakthrough.

technology it's not surprising that they were. the first. to. improve. in the one nine hundred sixty s. . with previous.

seventy's more or less modern day by at the scene but these still work perfect. whatever the position of leaflets inside the ring they create some amount of resistance so the pressure on the heart is generally as high as thirty forty or even fifty millimeters of mercury we figured out that it would be impossible to remove this obstacle as long as the leaflets were in the middle of the blood flow so we decided to place them outside the ring. for that the doctors turned to med inge premier heart valve maker those coming off the lines here are made of what's called monolithic pure a little carbon the materials obtained from ordinary natural gas as it's burned at temperatures up to fifteen hundred degrees. special card.